Our story began during the COVID-19 pandemic. While finishing my final semester of university back in my hometown, I decided I needed a little more connection with the outside world — so I downloaded a dating app. That was where I matched with a curious Dutch guy named Maikel. It took me a whole week to reply to his long first message, but luckily, he was still there. One conversation led to another, and eventually, our long-distance love story began.

After almost a year and a half of talking through screens, I took a leap of faith and flew to the Netherlands to meet Maikel for the very first time. It meant leaving my job in television and travelling across the world during an uncertain time, but on 8 March 2022 at Schiphol Airport, the person behind my screen was finally standing right in front of me.

Later that year, Maikel travelled to Indonesia to meet my family and experience my home and culture. After almost five weeks together, he asked my family for their blessing for us to build a life together in the Netherlands. With different cultures, family circumstances and plenty of paperwork ahead of us, we knew it wouldn't be easy — but we chose to take the next step together.

After almost two and a half years of long distance, countless calls, flights, paperwork and learning Dutch, my visa was finally approved. On 10 July 2023, I arrived in the Netherlands again — this time not for a holiday, but to stay. No more airport goodbyes. We finally had a place to call home together.

Almost six years after our first message, Maikel proposed in Switzerland, surrounded by a quiet lake and the beautiful Alps. There was no crowd — just the two of us, the mountains and the lake as our witnesses. And, of course, I said yes.

And now, almost seven years after our story began, we are ready to say “I do.” On 27 February 2027, we will officially become husband and wife in the Netherlands, followed by our wedding celebration in Indonesia on 5 June 2027.